WASHINGTON 

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that badly needed humanitarian assistance has begun to flow into the besieged Gaza Strip after Israel and Hamas exchanged prisoners.

"Humanitarian aid is now pouring in, including hundreds of truckloads of food, medical equipment and other supplies, much of it paid for by people in this room. Civilians are returning to their homes. The hostages are reuniting," Trump told a summit with global leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

"A new and beautiful day is rising, and now the rebuilding begins. Rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part. I think we've done a lot of the hardest part, because the rest comes together. We all know how to rebuild, and we know how to build better than anybody in the world," he added.

Trump voiced his "tremendous gratitude to the Arab and Muslim nations who helped make this incredible breakthrough possible."

He also said that the reconstruction of Gaza must include the territory’s demilitarization and the establishment of a new, “honest” civilian police force to ensure security for its residents.

“We're also agreed that Gaza's reconstruction requires that it be demilitarized and that a new honest civilian police force [be created] to create a safe condition for the people in Gaza,” Trump said.

Earlier Monday, Hamas and Israel carried out a prisoner swap deal that saw hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released from Israel's notorious Ofer military prison, and Israeli prison facilities in the Negev Desert. All 20 living Israeli hostages were also released from captivity.

Trump said upon arriving at the summit facility that efforts are underway to locate the bodies of the hostages who died in captivity, saying "they know where numerous are, you know, I guess five or six are in yet now."

"They're looking for bodies. They know the areas and the search parties out, and they're doing it in conjunction with Israel, and they're going to be finding quite a few of them," he said.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,800 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.

*Contribution by Rabia Iclal Turan